Detroit homicide victims’ mothers seek swift justice

Shots rang out, echoing through the brisk, early morning air, and another name was added to the list of Detroit homicides.

Ramone Stewart. Age 28. Gunned down on the city’s west side at 4 a.m. April 29, 2015.

Like many of Detroit’s homicide victims, Stewart was a young, black man and his killing remains unsolved.

“No one deserves to lose their life,” his mother, Pamela Freeman, said, “not unless the Lord is taking them out.”

Her son’s killing is one of the 164 criminal homicide cases Detroit had recorded by Aug. 2 — 3% more than that time last year, but 14% less than the same time in 2013. While police investigate these cases, the department is taking strides to stay connected with the families of victims, including working with a local grief support group and assigning volunteer victim advocates to help bridge the gap between families and busy investigators.

“What we don’t want the families to feel is that we are ignoring them,” Detroit homicide Capt. Constance Slappey said.

A newly formed unit — tasked with going back through inactive homicide files — plans to look at Stewart’s case and a handful of others brought forward by the group Mothers of Murdered Children so police can answer questions families have about the cases. The grief support group has met with police officials and plans to do so again later this month.

Freeman, a member of Mothers of Murdered Children, has her own unanswered questions for investigators. She wants to know how close police are to making an arrest, whether investigators checked to see if any surveillance cameras captured the killing and how many leads have they followed.

Freeman said she has heard stories from mothers who say investigators have not kept in touch and she worries that, as time passes, police may stop reaching out to her, as well.

“Eventually,” she said, “they may stop calling. They may not be looking anymore. I just want some closure.”

Detroit Police Chief James Craig said police should be reaching out to victims’ families “as a matter of routine.” Families themselves may become aware of information they can pass on to police.

“It really, to me, strikes at the heart of service,” Craig said in an interview last month. “Frankly, when I got here, I was somewhat critical that we didn’t do that. We had a lot of unsolved homicides and there was no follow-up with the families.”

And there are a number of families across Detroit coping with loss.

The city’s homicide rate has been on the decline, but hundreds of people fall victim each year. In 2012, there were roughly 55 homicides per 100,000 residents — the highest rate in nearly two decades. That number dropped in 2013 to 48 homicides per 100,000 residents and again in 2014 to 44 homicides per 100,000 residents.

Most of the victims, like Freeman’s son, died by gunfire.

Deaths in Detroit

Overall, police say that by Aug. 2, violent crime was down 3% in Detroit and property offenses were down 16% compared with last year.

But gun violence remains an issue — it is the ruling means of homicide in Detroit, the reason for hundreds of injuries each year and the way bold criminals are able to steal cars and commit other serious crimes. As of Aug. 2, there had been 617 nonfatal shootings so far this year — up from 607 during the same time last year, according to police.

From 2010 through the first half of this year, about 84% of Detroit’s homicide victims were killed by guns, according to a Free Press analysis of roughly 51/2 years of Detroit police homicide data.

The data also show:

■ Midway through this year, the deadliest area of the city was on the east side around the 9th Precinct, which had seen 22 homicides by June 29.

■ By late June, police had closed roughly 41% of the 142 criminal homicide cases recorded by that time this year, as well as another 19 cases from 2014 and 2013. Also, of the 299 criminal homicide cases recorded in 2014, 53% of them had been closed by midway through this year, records indicate.

■ The majority of homicide victims are black men, with women representing between 12% and 15% each year from 2010 to 2013. In 2014, though, 21% of the victims were women.

■ Records of homicides show that police document what they believe are the motives of the crimes. About 38% of the criminal homicide cases over the 51/2-year time frame had an unknown motive, while 28% were believed to be anger or argument, 13% to be robbery and 12% to be drugs. Statistics from 2014 homicides, however, show that police believed the motive in 34% of cases that year to be drugs, 29% anger or argument and 14% robbery. Only 4% of the cases that year were listed as having an unknown motive.

■ Records indicate that police believed 74% of the victims in 2014 criminal homicide cases were acquainted with their killers, 8% were related and 13% were strangers. That year, police indicated 5% of the relationships were unknown, which is lower than cases in 2010-13. Anywhere from 49% to 62% of the criminal homicide cases in those years were listed as having unknown relationships.

■ About a quarter of the city’s homicide victims during the 51/2-year period were between ages 20 and 25. About 10% of the victims were ages 15 to 19.

Ramone Stewart was killed in the area of Riverview and Clarita, but other details are scant.

“We believe there is a narcotic nexus,” Chief Craig said. He added: “Some information we got, it has nothing to do with the victim, it may be with an associate of the victim.”

Freeman said that, during a candlelight vigil for Stewart, she heard from people in the neighborhood that her son had been in a fight with someone two weeks earlier.

“A young person just gone too soon,” she said.

Freeman remembers her son as outgoing, giving, hardworking and kind. When police came to tell her he had been killed, she said, “my heart just fell ... fell in my lap.” She joined Mothers of Murdered Children and the grief support group, she said, has been like another family.

“They’re there for you,” she said, “in whatever way that they can.”

Divine inspiration

When Andrea Clark’s son was killed four years ago, she felt alone.

The Detroit mother prayed, and God, she said, gave her the vision to start a group to support grieving mothers. Mothers of Murdered Children was born.

“When I speak to a mother, I’m speaking from a real place,” Clark said. “I’m not talking at her. I’m talking with her. And I share from within my heart.”

Her 30-year-old son, Darnell Perkins, was fatally shot in April 2011 at a club downtown, she said. His killing was deemed justifiable. According to the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, witnesses saw Perkins, allegedly upset about being thrown out of the club, drive his truck into a building, back up and then drive toward patrons and security guards, who fatally shot him.

Clark said she is at peace with what happened. And, when it comes to her group, she said how or why someone’s child is killed makes no difference to them when it comes to providing support.

“The fact remains,” she said, “you lost a child.”

One of the group’s missions, Clark said, is to bridge the gap between the community and law enforcement. Later this month, police plan to answer questions families have about a handful of cases brought to them by the group.

Slappey, the homicide captain, said police will review the cases to answer the families’ questions. And, she said, if police feel additional investigation can be conducted to bring closure, they’ll do that, as well.

For Freeman, it’s hard not hearing her son’s voice and knowing that he won’t be around for holidays and birthdays.

“He had his life ahead of him,” she said. “Somebody took it.”

Contact Gina Damron: 313-223-4526 or gdamron@freepress.com